Relay



July 16, 1940. M 'NELsr-:N Er A1.

RELAY Filed April 5, 195s Patented July 16, 1949 UNITED sTATi-:s

RELAY Marvin Nelsen and Thedore bnarny, Chicago,

Ill., assignorsto Guardian Electric Manufacturing Company, Chicago, lll., a corporation of Illinois Application April 5, i939, Serial No. 266,118

4Claims.

This invention relates 'to electro-magnetic relay devices of the type including a swingable armature hingedly supported at one end on a mounting bracket or field piece.

In most relay devices as heretofore designed and manufactured, the amature is fabricated totally of ferrous metal and is directly connected to the iield piece, which tends to result in causing sticking or'binding of the armature, and dewv laying its movement toward or away from the magnetic core. 'I'his condition is due to residual magnetism in the .armature caused by its being in the path of the magnetic field currents. Moreover, such prior devices required substantial time i in proper adjustment during assembly due to the substantially fixedl type pivot or hinge connection of the armature to the field piece.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved form of relay device 30 which eliminates the foregoing diiilculties.

Another and more specific object Ais to provide a novel amature construction, characterized by the provision bf a section of non-ferrous metal at the locale ofthe hinged support on the field 25 piece, to eliminate direct contact of the ferrous metal portion of the armature with the fleld,

piece. A

A further object is to provide a novel form of flexible hinge support for the armature on 30 the field piece which permits lateral rocking of the armatureln a direction transversely of its hinge axis, to more readily facilitate proper aligning and seating of the armature on the end of the core.

Still another object is to provide a novel construction of field piece and armature by virtue of which one or more banks of switches may be conveniently mounted or replaced, for direct actuation by the movement of the amature.

4" A stm further object of this invention is to provide an improved form of hinge support for the armature, by virtue of which a substantial saving of time is eilected in proper adjustment of the armature during initial assembly of the relay.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accomo panying drawing, in which: i

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation embodying our present invention.

Fig. V2 is a top plan view ofthe relay device. Fig. 3 is an end view of the relay device. u Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, end view of the relay (ci. i zoosn .of the -iield piece, showing the novel form of hinged support for the amature.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, transverse, sectional vie taken as indicated at line 5 5 on Fig. 4.

The electro-magnetic relay structure comprising the present invention and illustrated in the drawing, includes a field piece or bracket member I having a foot |I and an upstanding leg I2, the upper end of which is bent laterally and rearwardly to form a shelf i3 to which may be secured one or more banks of switch units as hereinafter described. Mounted in upright position on the foot portion II of the field piece is a conventional coil Il, disposed adjacent the leg I2, and having a core 15, the coil being fully insulated from the foot piece li by a sheet of insulating material I6. The relay device herein illustrated is intended' for use with A. C. current and to avoid hum and chatter, which is a common'occurence in most types of small A. C. relays heretofore manufactured, we employ a relatively large copper shading ring I1, rigidly attached to the end of ther core i protruding above said coil Il. The ends of the wire of the coil I4 are soldered to terminal clips I8, to which may be conveniently attached or soldered conductor wires for connection of the coil in an electrical circuit.

Mounted for cooperation with the protruding upper end of the core i5 is an armature 20, which is adapted to be hingedly and flexibly supported on the leg l2 of the field bracket for rocking movement in two transverse directions relatively tosaid leg. The amature proper is made of ferrous metal so as to permit magnetic attraction to the core, and the end of said armature adjacent the leg I2 of the field bracket is upwardly oifset as indicated in the drawing, and is rigidly attached by means of rivets 2l to a mounting plate or extension 22 of non-ferrous material, such as brass, which extends through an elongated aperture or slotV I2* formed in the leg of theileld piece. Said mounting plate together with the portion of the bracket surrounding said aperture I2* are formed with interlocking tongue and groove features as indicated at I2b and 22h, respectively, which permit of only a slight amount of lateral movement of the amature and mounting plate with respect to the field piece lli, as may be seen in Figs. 4 and 5. This construction, however, is such as to afford adequate vertical movement of the armature toward and away from the end of the core I5. The bottom edge of the slot I2, upon which the mounting plate 22 of the amature is supported, is arcuately rounded as indicated at i2c so that` in addition to providing a hinged support about which the armature is free to swing vertically, toward and away from the core I, it also permits a slight amount of lateral rocking movement of the armature in a direction transversely of the hinge axis to facilitate aligning and proper seating of the armature on the core i5 and to assure more perfect seating and engagement of the armature on the end of said core, as may be seen in Figs. 4 and 5. Obviously, if desired, this rocking effect may also be produced by imposing a convex curvature on the under surface of the mounting plate 22 in registration With a flat surface constituting the bottom of the slot I2 in the leg l2 of the eld piece.

By Virtue of this construction, the work required to properly adjust the armature with respect to the core, during process of assembling a relay device, is reduced to only a fraction of that heretofore required in the assembly and adjustment of similar type relay devices. Furthermore, by reason of the fact that the mounting plate 22 0f the armature is of non-ferrous metal, and due to its support and mounting as above described, the total amature structure in eect is what is termed a full floating flexible armature mounting, and prevents residual magnetism in the armature, and eliminates friction and binding or sticking at the hinge support for the armature by the elimination of the effect of said residual magnetism."

The armature is normally maintained in the position seen in Fig. 1 of the*y drawing out ofengagement with the core i5,'by a coil spring 23 connected to the outer end of the mounting plate 22 and to a lug i2eds`tamped out of the lower end of the leg portion l2 of the eld piecel i0. The

armature is limited in its swinging upward movement away from the core i5 by a stop in the form of a finger 25, which is a part of a stamped element 26, rigidly secured to the shelf extension i3 of the eld piece. Said finger and bracket are also formed of non-ferrous metal to break the path of magnetic currents and thereby eliminate any effect on the amature by the stray magnetic currents set up in the field piece. Said bracket is provided with a pair of spaced-apart downturned ngers 2Gb terminating a short distance above the armatura-adjacent its hinge connection to limit the amount of vertical movement of said end of the armature, and to hold it locked against endwise displacement by engagement of the tongue and groove features i2b and 22h.

The outer end of the armature proper is formed with an uptumed leg 20h to which is secured by rivets 2l an upstanding lifter bar or panel 28 of insulating material, the upper end of which is provided with one or more horizontally disposed, elongated slots 29. Mounted on the shelf portion i3 of the eld piece, with the bracket 25 interposed and, as shown in the drawing, is a switch element adapted to be controlled by the actuation of the armature and includes a plurality of blocks of insulating material, indicated at B, and a pair of spring bar type conductor ngers 3i and 32 provided. with cooperating contact buttons Si and 32B, respectively; and, as seen in the drawing, said finger 32 is longer than nger 3i and projects through the elongated slot 29 in the insulating panel 28. When the armature 29 is in the position seen in Fig. i, the panel 28 of insulating material is in elevated position and at which position said spring finger 32 and its contact button 32fi is held away from contact button 3l of finger 3i. The insulating panel 23, by

reason of its shape and position, also serves to protect the switch fingers against injury. Obviously, when the armature 2@ is attracted to the core l5, the panel 28, due to its direct connection to the armature, is also drawn downwardly and 5 thereby yieldingly moves nger 32 to cause its contact button 32a to move into wiping engagement with cooperating contact button 3i to complete a portion of an electric circuit including the switch. The ends of conductor ngers 3i and 32 l0 project rearwardly beyond the blocks 30 of insulating material and provide terminals Sib and 32b to which may be connected, suchas by soldering, conductor wires of an electrical circuit to be controlled by said switch. When more than one 15 switch of the character indicated is mounted on shelf extension I3, one finger of each switch is formed with an extension, at its free end, projecting into a slot in panel 28, so as to cause raising or lowering of said extended finger, incident to 20 actuation of said armature, for making andx breaking contact between cooperating switch fingers of said switches.

Although we have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of our invention, mani" 25 festly it is capable of modification and rearrangement of parts Without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. We do not, therefore, wish to be understood as limiting this invention to the v precise embodiment herein disclosed, except as it 30 may be so limited by the appended claims.

We claim: f

1. In an electro-magnetic relay including a coil and a core; the combination of a eld pieceof ferrous metal having an uprightleg dispo'sed ad- 35 jacent the coil, an armature hingedly mounted at one end on said upright leg of the field vpiece and including a main bodyportion of ferrous metal located 'in registration with the endj'of the core, an extension piece of non-magnetic material 40' rigidly attached to said main body portion and directly connected to the upright leg of the field piece for hingedly supporting said main ferrous body portion of the armature out of direct contact with the field piece, and a member of non- 45 magnetic material secured to said leg of the eld piece and having an extension located above said main body portion of the armature in position to be engaged by said armature for limiting its movement away from the core.

2. In an electro-magnetic relay including a coil and a core; the combination of-a field piece of ferrous metal having an upright leg disposed adjacent the coil, and an armature hingedly and flexibly mounted at one end on said upright leg 55 of the field piece and including a main body portion of ferrous metal located in registration with the end of the core, an extension piece of non-magnetic material rigidly attached to said main body portion and projecting through and loosely mounted in an elongated slot formed inA said leg for hingedly supporting said main ferrous body portion of the armature out of direct contact with the field piece, the lower surface defining said slot in the leg including an arcuate 55 portion to permit lateral rockingr of the armature in a direction transversely of its hinged movement toward and away from said core and a', member of, non-magnetic material` secured ,tog said leg of the field piece and having an exten- 7o sion located above said main body portion of the. armature in position to be engaged by said armature for limiting its movement away from the core.

3. In an electro-magnetic relay including 75 coil and a core; the combination of a field piece having an upright leg of ferrous metal disposed adjacent the coll, an armature hingedly and exibly mounted at one end on said upright leg of the eld piece, located in registration with the end of the core, the upper end of said leg, above said armature, being bent rearwardly away from the coil to form a shelf,`a member of non-mag-y netic material mounted on said shelf and having 1 an extension located above said armature in position to be engaged by said armature for limiting its movement away from the core, a switch including a pair of cooperating yieldable conductor ngers extending over and out of range of movement of said armature and secured to saidshelf with said member interposed therebetween, and a member of insulating material rigidly mounted on the armature adjacent its free end, one finger of said switch being longer than the other and having its end disposed in position to be engaged by the insulating member for controlling the make-and-break of said fingers incident tothe movement of said armature.

4. In an electro-magnetic relay including a coil and La core; the combination of a field piece of ferrous metal having an upright leg disposed adjacent the coil, a shelf portion extending rearwardly from the upper end of said leg, an armature hingedly and flexibly mounted at one end on said upright leg of the eld piece Aand located in registration with the end of the core, a member of non-magnetic material mounted on said shelf and having an extension located above said armature in position to be engaged by said armature for limiting its movement away from the core, a switch including a pair of cooperating yieldable conductor fingers extending over and out of range of movement of said armature and secured to said shelf with said member interposed therebetween, and a member of insulating material mounted on the armature adjacent its free end, one finger of said switch being longeithan the other and having its end disposed in position to be engaged by the insulating member for controlling the make-and-break of said fingers incident to the movement of said armature.

MARVIN NELSEN. THEDORE OBSZARNY. 

